Stompy is coming

The Artisans Asylum in Somerville Massachusetts is holding a class called Project Hexapod. Their mission is to build this car-sized two-person hexapod robot and ride it through town in about four months. They've just posted the first set of schematics and named the robot "Stompy".

I want to point out that the Artisan’s Asylum is an epic bad ass organization. They are very much about supporting the maker community from n00bs to kung fu masters. If you leave in the greater Boston area, and especially if you live across the river on the Cambridge/Somerville side, you should really check them out. They are pretty much as bad ass as they sound.

If you are going to be in the greater Boston Area, Somerville Open Studios (SOS) is happening this weekend and the Artisan’s Asylum will be open. Just to give you some context, Somerville is a little sliver of Boston that is 4.2 square miles, yet has 80,000 people. This year, there are going to be over 100 studious open around Somerville over the weekend for the event. It really is worth the visit if you are going to be in town.

SOS has the usual suspects you would expect at various open studious like water color, pottery, and crap like that, but it also has some truly epic shit each year. Crazy mechanical sculptures, sharp pointed objects, steam punk , epic 10 foot tall bikes sporting blinking shit, and of course hexapod robots. Seriously, if you are in Boston this weekend, come check it out. Somerville is a bad ass little town.

Judging from the Project Hexapod page, the occupants’ heads would be around 10 feet above the pavement. That would be an amazing view and a great thrill. Please post video when this thing rolls out… Er.. strides out.

What is it with robot-developers and their “not-quite-God-complex”? Wheels are FAR better than legs in every single way. Just cause there’s no animals/bugs/fish with wheels, that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t use them.

Note on the existing “competition” – since the Asylum hexapod is a true 18-actuator hexapod, it can spin in place. It’s also got a design speed of … I think 6 MPH, but I may not be remembering correctly.

Looks great; although it also looks very lean. Are these schematics just concepts, or are they actually based on the materials etc. needed? I would expect a lot more bulk in the bid section where all the engine/s pneumatics etc. go. Even the legs look optimistically neat.